Al Ain: The Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Gulf Club (AESGC) will host a three-day Al Ain International Showjumping Championship beginning on Wednesday.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is the president of the club, the event will see more than 150 riders in the fray with a total prize money of Dh632,000.
This was disclosed on Tuesday in a press conference held at the premises of the AESGC and attended by Mohammad Rashid Al Nassiri, General Manager of the club, Taleb Al Muhairy, Secretary General of the UAE Equestrian Federation, Atef Shawki of the UAE EF, Magdy Al Kholy, member of the AESGC and Dr Haitham Tayfour, a veterinary doctor.
Al Muhairy explained: "The championship is one of the most important and rich competitions in the Arab Tour, which includes 11 rounds with the UAE organizing four of them in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Al Ain.
"The two top riders who collect the most points from the tour will qualify for the finals of the World Show jumping Cup to be held in Holland iin April this year.
"Riders from many countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Ireland, Italy, Britain, the USA, France, Portugal, Iran, Ukraine, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Palestine, Russia, Switzerland and Taipei will take part in the competition in addition, of course, to the UAE riders who won the silver medal in the Asian Games in China in 2010."
The UAE will be represented by Shaikh Shakhboot Al Nahyan, Shaikha Latifa Al Maktoum, Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum, Shaikh Ali Al Qassimi, Ahmad Al Junaibi, Mohammad Al Kamiti and Abdulla Humaid.
"The two seats are for the Arab riders only to compete for while the other riders who are not from the Arab countries will enter the qualifiers in their zones and continents," Shawki said.
"In every day of the three days of competition, the competition will start with the Small Tour, then the Medium Tour and ends by the Big Tour with the height of the barriers being between 120 cm and 160 cm," he said.
Al Nassiri confirmed that his club has finished all necessary preparations to achieve success and that the entry for the spectators will be free and there are valuable prizes for the fans including air tickets and many pleasant surprises.
